Indian railways stations to get airport-like design and look this year

New Delhi: Indian Railways is set to offer a replacement makeover to as several as 50 railway stations this year! A walloping amount of Rs 7,500 crore is probably going to be invested with by the Indian Railway Station Terminal Development Corporation (IRSDC) for the renovation of 50 railway stations across the country in 2019.

The redevelopment project of Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry can embody separate arrival and departure areas at railway stations, similar to airports across the country so as to enhance security additionally as passenger flow management, according to a recent HT report. IRSDC is government’s special purpose vehicle, designed to develop new and redevelop existing stations.

According to IRSDC director SK Lohia, who was quoted in the report, for most of the major railway stations across india, arrivals and departures are going to be separate. However, he further stated that at railway stations where there is not much crowd, the present system will be in place. Currently, passengers who have to board trains wait at railway platforms.

The passenger waiting areas are going to be now be moved to concourses, he said. The arrival and departure are going to be segregated, depending on the area, by completely different levels or through partition at the same level, Lohia added. Under the redevelopment project, initially IRSDC can focus on the renovation of 50 railway stations through public-private partnership, the report said.

The railway stations that are known for redevelopment include Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh, Shivaji Nagar, Surat, Baiyyappananhalli, Nagpur, Gwalior, Amritsar, Gandhinagar (Jaipur), Sabarmati, Kanpur, Thakurli railway stations. Currently, redevelopment work is going on Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar (Gujarat) railway stations.

As per the knowledge provided on IRSDC website, 70th of civil work on Habibganj station and 82 of civil work on Gandhi Nagar station was completed till New Year's Eve, 2018.

In november 2018, Lohia told financial express online that development work on both the railway stations was progressing satisfactorily and IRSDC is hopeful that Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar railway stations are going to be commissioned your time in 2019. Each Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar stations are going to be Indian Railways’ first two world-class railway stations, equipped with state-of-the-art airport-like amenities.